slightly OT appologiziestorjusg said:Earthpeace
I think a cow hide may be too thick to tan hair on with tannins. It needs so long soaking time that the hair will slip. But it should still make excellent leather though.
I have tanned very little, but alder is said to produce the softest leather, while oak the hardest. With a weasel pelt (alder tan) and a roe deer hide (braintan, wet scrape) as my only real tanning experience, I would crossreference a little.
What you need to tan hair on primitively is probably to use the braintan, dry scrape technique. That will thin it too. Never tried dry scraping, but there are some books on the subject.
torjusg, do you have any recepies for veg tanning, especially using alder as i have tonnes of the stuff.
thanks
dean